2008 Summer Olympics medal table

Map of the world showing the achievements of each country during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China.Gold for countries achieving at least one gold medal.Silver for countries achieving at least one silver medal.Brown for countries achieving at least one bronze medal.Green for countries that did not win a medal.Black for countries that did not participate. A yellow square displays the host city (Beijing).Blue asterisks display countries achieving their first medal ever in a Summer Olympics.

Athletes from 86 countries won medals, leaving 118 countries without a medal, and 54 of them won at least one gold medal. Both of these categories set new records. Athletes from China won 51 gold medals, the most of any nation at these Olympics, and led the gold medal count for the first time in China's Olympic history. Athletes from the United States won the most total medals, with 110. Afghanistan,[2]Mauritius,[3]Sudan,[4]Tajikistan[5] and Togo[6] won their first Olympic medals. Athletes from Mongolia (which previously held the record for most medals without a gold)[7] and Panama[8] won their first gold medals. Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić won the first medal for the country as an independent NOC. Serbian athletes have previously won medals as nationals of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro.[9]

The ranking in this table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a "nation" is an entity represented by a National Olympic Committee). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IOC country code.

SwedishwrestlerAra Abrahamian was originally awarded a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 84 kg event. However, at the medal ceremony he walked off the podium and dropped his medal on the mat in protest of the judging in his event. On August 16, 2008, the International Olympic Committee decided to strip him of his medal because they felt it amounted to a political demonstration and was disrespectful to other athletes.[15]

Norwegian equestrian athlete Tony André Hansen's horse tested positive for the pain relieving medication capsaicin, a banned substance. Hansen, who won a bronze medal in the team jumping event, was disqualified. In the team jumping system, the top three scores garnered by the four riders are counted. Hansen had the best score on his team, and it was removed from the total. Without Hansen's score, his team was below the bronze medal threshold so the medal was awarded to the team from Switzerland on December 22, 2008.[18]